Open-hearth furnace



E; R. RICHARDS OPEN HEARTH FURNACE Feb. 1l, 1947.

Filed April 2, 1942 4 Sheets- Sheet 2 A f J //////////////////l Feb, 11, 1947. E. R RICHARDS OPEN HEARTH FURNACE Filed April 2, 1942 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Feb. 1l, 1947. E. R. RICHARDS I OPEN HEARTH FURNACE Filed April 2. 1942 4 sheets-sheet 4 ui'uPatentediFeb. 1 947 y i l UNITED* "s'rairis 'turenr 'cjuu--mE;y

This invention relates to specific features of the front ywall life of a furnace, but nevertheless" construction and arrangement of open hearth furvin an inordinately short timefurnace front-walls naces and alms particularly to provide awaterfrequently fail and require shutting down ofjthe cooled support for the upper'parts of the front furnace for the purpose of rebuilding 'the'same .walls and archesv located over .the charging door 5 It is known to those skilled in the art that open I openings of the open hearth furnace. hearthy furnaces have a Irelatively short life and The foregoing and other features of the invenit is a, matter -of general knowledge to those fation will be apparent from the following speciflmiliar with the steel industry that production cation, the accompanying drawings vand the apschedules are largely dependent upon -the useful pended claims.- A f `lo life of the various furnaces in a given battery of Inthedrawingsz Y a 'theopenheartha l Figure 1 is a view of an open hearth fur It is a. particular feature of the present invenpartly ine1evation a d partly in sectlo'nl tion to provide means' for prolonging the life of from-thetappingside of the furnaetowa the furnace front wall which is one of the most charging doors; Figure a is a fragmentarythorizont line II--II of Figure 1:` l

Figures 3 and 4 are enla views through thecharging onventiona'lopen hearth furn estructive action which lthe pre aimstominimlhe; i

Figures 5v a'nd 6 are views showing coolant struction of the structure. In the drawings, these boxes locatlbetween the arches of the charging tank-like containers are indicated at 24. They door openings in the front wall of the furnace 26 -are inthe nature of hollow box-k'e structures and' constituting an important characteristic of .with top and bottom WellsV 25 and 29, frontend the present invention; and rear walls 30 and 32, and end walls 34 and 36. Figure 7.15 f1-onf, elevation of a portion of the The latter walls arejobliquely inclined in opposite furnaceshowing gne chargigg door openingand directions so as to suit the inclination of the thisfend--I-'provide a device for supporting the f upper part of the brickwork 4of the front wall and arches over the charging door openings of the furnace, this device taking'the form of either which sufficient water or other coolant is caused vulnerable parts of an open hearth furnace. To.

welded yor cast metal tank-like containers inv to circulate in. a manner to prevent early detwo adjacent cooling boxes ofthe present inven- 3 Obliqlleiy inclined end briekS vof the arches l2 i tion incorporated in the front'wall, usually provided over the door openings i0. For Referring in detail to the drawings, Figure 3 convenience of illustration, the containers are shows a typical cross section through the chargshownv as integral castings, but it will beundering door of a conventional open hearth furnace. stood that each can be formed of several metal The door opening is indicatedat |0,the c onven- 35 plates welded to one another. Each ,container is tional arch over the openin'gat` i2, and the usual Supplied with a Suitable coolant such asr water roof ati4. The front wall, indicated at IB, acfrom a branch pipe 40 Communicating With a cording to the practice prior to my invention, has supply main 42. there being a Control Valve M frequently required premature replacement for lin each of the branch pipes. Each container also the reason that it becomes eroded or worn away 40 Connects with an Outlet Pipe 46 Which leads to more rapidly `than the upper part, thus leaving a suitable drain or sump tank 48. Distributor it unsupported. To alleviate this condition it is pipes 50 located within the containers are ar-lv a vcommon. practice as the front wall becomes ranged to discharge Coolant inthe direction of worn away o r eroded to provide support by piling the arrows of Figure 7 toward the end walls 34 up a mass of chrome ore such as indicated by the 45 and 36- ThuS there iS Constantly Supplied a coolstippling at i8 in Figure 4. This gure shows ing medium in the region of the furnace front an irregular full line 20 suggestive of the manner Wall lwhich iS most Vulnerable to attack bythe in which the front wall I6 `becomes eroded. The intense heat of the furnace and by the erosive dotted line 22 in Figure 4 corresponds to the action of the flame and combustion products similarly identified full line 22 in Figure 3, which 50 constantly passing through the furnace, showsl the original inner surface of the front Each container is providedwith suitable atwall of a new furnace. taching bars 52 which are adapted to be secured .The expedient of pilingup a body of chrome t platesl 5t which in turn are secured to the ore such as shown at I8 in Figure 4 is frequently buck stays 56 constituting part of the convenresorted to by those skilled in the art to prolong 55 vtional framework of the openv hearth furnace.

.turbing the upper part.

ldepend upon the furnace in which they are to With the water-cooled containers located the upper portion of the brick wall and between the arches I2 over the door openings, the arches'are 'supported independently of the lower part of the wall. Thisis advantageous for it permits the lowerpart of the wall to be' patched or rein-A forced by covering with suitable temperature and slag resisting materials or the lower part of the wall can. be entirely replaced Without dis- The disclosed Vstructure is also of advantage for the reason that the cooling eiect of they containers'at the zones of maximum wear or erosion give an added support' which will greatly prolong the life 'of the front wall and thus reduce 4maintenance costs and thereby increase steel production by reducing the frequency of shut-downs for the purpose of making repairs. The exact shape and size of the coolant containers will be installed and the manner in which the'wall theyare to support is normally burned away or eroded. However, it is regarded to be particularly important to provide the coolant containers in the region between each ofthe several charging doors l at an elevation approximately level with the upper portion of such door openings. This is for the reason that when so located the containers will serve to adequately supe port the roof arches ,over the door openingsfor a much longer time than such arches will be properly supported in the absence of such cool'- ant containers.

Various modifications skilled in'4 the art without departure from the may be made by those invention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim: l

1. In ian open hearth furnace having aA front wall with a'plurality of charging' door openings therein, arches over the door openings and 'a plurality of coolant containers embedded in the furnace front wall in the-horizontal level between the' arches over said door openings, said arches at their ends bearing directly against'. said containers.

2. In an open hearth furnace having afront wall with a plurality of charging door openings therein, respective brick arches over saidopenings, respective hollow metallic coolant containers embedded in said furnace wall spanning the space between' the respective arches, each container having obliquely inclined end walls' against upper and lower extremities of said arches, eachV vwhich the ends'of said arches make direct contac 3. In an open hearth furnace having a front wall with a plurality of charging door openings 5 therein; respective arches over saidopenings, re-

spective hollow metallic containers` embedded in said furnace wall between the respective arches, ,each container having obliquely inclined end walls against which said arches take a direct bearing, means for supplying la coolant to each of 'said containers, and respective means for discharging the coolant from the containers, each 'container having therein a pipe adapted to direct the coolant toward said oblique walls.

4. In `an open hearth furnace having a front Wall with a plurality of charging door openings therein, respective arches over said openings, respective hollow coolant containers embedded in the upper part of the furnace wall in a region between horizontal planes coincident with the therein, respective arches over said openings, re-l spective h'ollowcoolant containers embedded in the upper part of the furnace wall, each container having portions supporting said. arches,

constructed and arranged to facilitate the making of repairs to the lower part of the front wall, `which usually 'fails first, without disturbingK the upper part thereof.

` EDWIN R. RICHARDS.

` REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED ASTATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,220,444 Naismith Mar. 27, 1917 919,187 Knox Apr. 20, 1909 4,691 Williamson Jan. 2, 1872 2,213,053 Russell Aug. 27, 1940 1,097,883 Schmarje May 26, 1914 and xed upright metal'buck-.sta'ys to which said containers are secured, the whole structure being 

